The Crossline Community Groups Podcast

Can Small Groups Be Spiritually Deep and Fun

• Jordan Gash • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Unlock the secrets to creating a small group experience that's both spiritually enriching and filled with fun. Join me as we dive into the fascinating dynamics of small groups. Discover what motivates people to join, from seeking deeper church connections to enhancing their biblical understanding, and learn how to cater to these diverse needs. We'll also touch on Barna's research, which offers valuable insights into prioritizing spiritual practices within these communities.

Do you know what participants find most meaningful in their small group gatherings? This episode reveals the surprising preferences of participants, highlighting the power of engaging directly with scripture and the unexpected role of worship and music. While pre-made curriculums have their place, we discuss why reading and discussing the Bible takes precedence for many. We'll also cover the significance of sharing prayer concerns, and how structured discussions on specific topics can elevate group engagement, despite digital written curriculums being underutilized.

Experience the transformative power of praying together as the cornerstone of small group unity. We'll talk about how this practice fosters deep connections and supports a collective spiritual journey, alongside the importance of studying God's word. With a focus on tailored discipleship plans and the blessings of participating in small groups, we conclude with a heartfelt message inspired by Philippians 1:9-11, encouraging growth in love, knowledge, and insight. Whether you're a seasoned leader or considering joining a small group, this episode offers insights and inspiration for your faith journey.

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Speaker 1:

Well, everyone, my name is Jordan Gash. I am the pastor at Crossline Community Church down in Laguna Hills, california, and this is the Crossline Community Groups podcast. This is a podcast that was made ultimately for the leaders that are small group leaders here at our church but wanted to make it available to anybody and everybody that is out there that is listening that is either involved in a small group, leading small groups, want to be a part of a small group, involved in a small group leading small groups, want to be a part of small group. This is a great podcast for you just to listen in and maybe get a few little tips, tricks, ideas, thoughts that can help contribute to the success of your small group or small group ministry. And I want to say that if you guys are leaders with four small groups, wherever you're at, whether that mean you're a small group host or a small group leader or you're a small group pastor that's doing this on a weekly basis and shepherding people, I want to appreciate you. I want to say thank you so much for your willingness to step into this role. It's great kingdom work and I believe in it, and I know the Lord is proud of you for jumping into that. So let's talk about our episode today. It's going to be something that's going to be practical and simple. We're going to share some ideas and really look at some of the statistics around what could be the key parts of a small group time, and so the episode that we have today is called Can a Small Group Time Be Both Spiritually Deep and Fun?

Speaker 1:

Now, I think most of us can understand that. We hear that question. Of course it can be spiritually deep and fun, but in practice I think sometimes we categorize that there's the spiritual stuff, there's all the Bible stuff and that's like the serious academic stuff, and then we have the fun parts about it and those things are totally, completely separate. But there is this reality of things being both spiritually deep and fun in your small group, and people join small groups for a wide variety of reasons. I've heard it all. I've heard there's just the maybe the most common one is to be get better connected to the church, to understand the church a little bit more. There's there's people wanting to deepen their understanding of the Bible, to grow in their understanding of the Bible, to grow in their understanding of the Bible, to get support through different life stages, I know, especially for those young families that are in small groups, that time when you have babies or you have young kids, I mean, small groups are such a vital part of your life because it is that support structure in the midst of some really challenging times. And for me, who's stepping into that season where my kids are starting to turn into teenagers, I know I'm going to need that just as much too. So, support stages through life Uh, I've heard too that people join small groups because they are obeying the pastor.

Speaker 1:

The pastor said that you should be in a small group. The church said I had to be in a small group, so I just did it, which I don't know if that's good or bad. I mean, I appreciate the, the, the leading and taking, that shepherding, that shepherding walk, um, and a lot of people are part of that. For that reason, um, or it could just be friendships and, like I said, I've heard all the reasons. I've heard and this is actually from a guy that ended up really developing through his small group but totally went for worldly reasons, went to a single small group because he wanted to meet girls. So hey, god uses it in a variety of different ways he didn't meet a girl, but he really encountered Jesus in a powerful, powerful way. So, good reasons, bad reasons, whatever the reason, a lot of people join small groups.

Speaker 1:

But I do want to say that I don't want to go too simplistic on this, but I think that, as you talk about really the desires for a small group and the reasons that people join a small group really can be broken down into two major categories and that's the spiritual angle and the social angle. When you sit down with your group and you talk vision which you should be doing once a year to really talk vision around what you guys want your small group to be or when you bring in new members to the group, or if you're starting a group for the first time, it's good to understand the reasoning why people are there. You know what's really the motivating factor for them participating in a small group. You, as a host or a leader, you want to know that because it'll help you better shepherd that team and really bring about unity in the group. And I would say that that's important, because this is definitely important for you to know, because if there's a wide diversity in your group of reasons why people have shown up, there can be tension that can arise just by the nature of how you lead the group that you could better navigate if you were a little bit more prep for it. Because what's going to happen is the spiritual people are going to think too much time is wasted on food and chatting and games and all of that stuff, whereas the social people will think a group with a lot of Bible study feels too rigid and like a classroom, and that's just sometimes the nature that you're fighting with.

Speaker 1:

So we're going to be looking at how we can beautifully mesh these things together for really just this great group that's strong and powerful. And we're going to actually use a resource that I'm really excited about. I just received it. I just got back from an amazing conference in Dallas and shout out Dallas to anybody listening in Dallas but got back from this great conference for the Right Now Media Conference and there's this new resource put out by Barna that I have just been digging into. It's got so much great information for you to digest if you're a small group leader, if you're a small group pastor. So there's Barna's research on discipleship and community and in this discipleship and community it does show that the majority of people prioritize and value the spiritual practices more than the social practices. In small group gatherings, that's usually the greater priority. It's balanced in many ways, but it definitely does edge out that people are looking more to the spiritual practices than the social practices in small groups. But again, we're looking to find a healthy balance between these things, and so what I want us to do is I want to look at a certain part of this discipleship and community, uh, barner research study. I want to look at something specific and I want to go through through this and and draw some conclusions.

Speaker 1:

Now, this, this part of the book, talks about really what makes what small groups do and what, what makes an impact in small groups, and this was they interviewed about 3,000 US church-going adults who are a part of a small group or a Bible study, and this is earlier this year, in 2024. And these are some of the things that they came up with. So we're going to be looking at really. What do people see as really the most meaningful parts of a small group, what are the people saying and what can we conclude through this? And so I'm going to have some comments on each of these things and we're not going to go through all of them, but I do want to highlight at least some of the tops and the lowest that they said, and then maybe a couple other pieces of these that I think maybe you can incorporate into a small group. That may really grow and develop your small group in some really special ways.

Speaker 1:

So With that let's start, and I like to, because I am a pastor and I'm a teacher and many times you want to delay that great nugget at the end, to really just kind of drive it home in the very beginning. So I'm actually not going to tell you right now yet what people think is the most meaningful part of small groups. I'm going to save that at the end. I'm going to, I'm going to leave you with some anticipation. So we're going to be looking, though, first at what is the second.

Speaker 1:

What is the second most meaningful thing that people say is a part of a small group, and that is what's. You know 78% saying that it's reading and discussing the Bible together. Now, you probably could have guessed that that's that's going to be up there. I mean small groups and Bible studies. That should be a central part of what you're doing, but people really see that as valuable, that there is definitely that time to open up God's word and to get into it, and I would say, increasingly more so, that getting into God's word itself, actually getting into the Bible, is a higher priority than maybe even some of these studies and these curriculums that people are using for small group study. Now, no, no shade on any of those you know curriculums or small group studies. Those are great facilitating guides and, hey, we as a church, we, we produce those throughout the year. We have a big one that comes every fall. So we're still doing it.

Speaker 1:

But I think people really just have a desire to actually get into the Bible and understanding how to do that. What's interesting is so, whereas getting into the Bible is one of the most meaningful parts of small groups, people did say that some of the lower numbers 24% were saying that the video and audio curriculum is not super meaningful to the group, or even the curriculum here, digital written curriculum only 20%. That's one of the five least things that people see as meaningful. So again, not saying it's not important, but really this opportunity to get into the Bible, to read and discuss the Bible together, is the second most important thing. So that's important. We want to jump into that. The second, the third, most important thing that people said and this was wild, this was fascinating and this actually probably incorporates even some of the maybe the small groups and Bible studies are happening on campus at a church.

Speaker 1:

But number three they said worship and music. You know this is an interesting concept to think about in small groups because I think from my perspective, doing small groups and participating in small groups this is not something that I commonly associate with small group is getting music and worship into the midst of that. But if you go into the scriptures, it does talk about the idea that many times in these fellowships they sing a hymn. When, after the disciples take communion, they sing a hymn together. And I know we as a small group we've tried this and we've done this before and singing hymns. It's powerful. But it does feel a little awkward at first because we have no instruments and we have no you know no beats going on. We're just singing acapella. But it's interesting how people see that as meaningful and important. This opportunity to worship together and and I don't know listen to music and singing music and being a part of that. That's a unifying thing for groups. That is actually really powerful.

Speaker 1:

So maybe there's ways that you, as a small group leader, can kind of make people a little bit uncomfortable in that uh and and introducing some new parts of your small group. Maybe you guys, you pick out a hymn for each one of your groups uh, group times and you sing the hymn together, you print it together and just there is a. There's a unique part of that, and some of you guys may think to yourselves yeah, no, my group would never do that, that's not going to fly and that's okay too. I'm not saying that these are things you have to do. These are just the things that data is showing us. Okay, and then the next thing that people really said was important was sharing prayer prayer concerns.

Speaker 1:

Again, another common one for small groups is this idea of taking time to go around and share prayer requests. I think most small groups do do that. Um, it is, it is one of the top five things that people do. Our most common parts, parts of small groups is sharing prayer requests, and so finding time to do that and make sure that it's how can I put this Make sure you really utilize a timekeeper in those sharing of prayer requests, because I know that those things can really take a lot of time if just allowed to just go forever. I know with our group many times if we don't have some sense of forward motion and schedule with our prayer request, we could take the full two hours and just share the prayer, prayer concerns of what we got going on in our lives. So having a good timekeeper in that Um, and then uh, and then the last thing is, uh, really facilitated, and this is the fifth most uh meaningful thing is that facilitated discussion going deep, uh, deep discussion on a specific topic Once again, I think that's talking about the Bible as well but then maybe pulling out a discussion topic out of the Bible and then even going deeper onto that. And and that's where I would say that at least the curriculum can be helpful to help you kind of really point you into the right direction onto a specific topic. So those are fascinating things, um, as we learn about that.

Speaker 1:

But what are some of the least significant things that people say that is, least meaningful things, and I want you guys to hear some of these things. Like I already told you, digital written curriculum it's well one, it's one of the least meaningful things, and most people say that they actually don't even utilize digital written curriculum in their group. So all those PDFs and all those things that we've created for people to access whenever they want, I guess maybe we're spending too much time on that, but it's already easy. We're already been printed the book. It's just put it on PDF, put it on the website. So even you 8% that are out there and utilizing it, you're welcome. Um, and man and I don't know, I don't know who adults, what adults they surveyed. I'm sure it's a wide variety of people.

Speaker 1:

But actually one of the second least important things was was childcare. It's not super meaningful to have childcare and it's actually saying that only like really 13% of small groups are utilizing childcare, of small groups are utilizing childcare. Now, maybe that boils into and I can't get into the nuances of all of this and so maybe this is like separate outside babysitters is not considered childcare. But, man, I know for us when we were having small kids, childcare was a big deal If we could have some way to really be able to focus in on our conversation. Um, it was important so, but just fascinating. So if you're spending your spinning your wheels on a ton of time to figure out how to make childcare happen. Um, maybe that's energy that could be better allocated somewhere else, cause people are saying that it's actually not even one of the most meaningful parts of that small group ministry or that small group time. So now, for us it was meaningful having childcare and figuring that out. That was that was meaningful for our time and I think even to this new generation.

Speaker 1:

You know, this is a side note, that's not connected even to this. This is just me on a podcast renting as I think about these different things. Um, there is this new, really generation, this new wave of people that are coming into churches that really want to find ways to really incorporate the family and incorporate their kids and have more of a family kind of environment for some of these small groups and these discussions and these Bible studies and that's exciting and it's cool and it's hard, it's challenging to figure out kind of the best ways to go through that. But there are ways to do that and maybe that's another podcast that we could talk about is doing a small group with the whole family involved. So, um, I would also say that and I'm going to put these together.

Speaker 1:

Um, they say that games and fun activities and celebrations and birthdays and anniversaries and all that stuff, both on the bottom of the list of most meaningful things. I love games, I love fun activities. I love doing it. I think it's great for team building, it's great for connection and growth. Uh, but as a whole, you know, people are saying, well, that's not the most meaningful part of their group and, um, that's just interesting for us to hear is that that's not really something that's really a priority for a ton, ton of people. Is they really want to get get engaged into really God's word and developing that? And then, like I said, we are we didn't mention this before, but the last one being the printed or physical curriculum even actually having a book or something printed again not the most meaningful part of of the study so fascinating facts for us to kind of recognize. But there's a couple of things that I want you to hear, because I thought these were interesting categories within this, this network of um things that small groups do. That made me a little bit, think a little bit more on how can I incorporate this more into our small groups and and even coach others to incorporate this? The first thing and we've done this as our small group but it makes me think like man. I want to do this more, I want to engage with this more.

Speaker 1:

But is Communion Communion within a small group, this sense of taking communion together? Communion is such a unifying practice. It's bringing together really this body of Christ. It's doing it together. It's the remembering of Christ's body broken for us and his blood poured out for us, and coming back together in unity, unified by being one in Christ. I can't think of reasons why you wouldn't do that and why that wouldn't be important. So 36, 36% of people said that that would be meaningful in a small group.

Speaker 1:

Another thing is community service or out and outreach. Another, right in the middle, 50% people saying that'd be meaningful. I do think that this is another thing. That's unifying and teaching your families and and serving together. There's nothing so great and that takes a lot of work, that takes a lot of planning and that really comes on planning on the leader's side and the host side to make that happen and maybe the small group pastor side to facilitate some of these things. Um, we're even looking into opportunities to really um, really be able to have some mission trips specifically for our small groups that targets those small group kind of ministries. But those are the kinds of things I think that are that are great.

Speaker 1:

Um, and then really, one more thing I wanted to kind of talk about was is the? A meal and food. You know it's a very common practice and I think that there's there's some aspects of sharing a meal together that is unifying as well, but in the end it it's 35% people say that it's really meaningful, but I think that I would put that even higher. I think having a meal together is again that the guards, the boundaries that you kind of let down, and how you open up in the midst of a meal as you're sharing a meal and talking about a meal and enjoying whether that coffee or food or whatever it might be. Um, it's very, it's very disarming for people and allows people to feel a little bit more at home and feel a belonging with that, and maybe that's a little bit better in a home setting than in a in a church room setting, but I would definitely put that as a as a key aspect. But a lot of different practices, um, that we're talking about.

Speaker 1:

But I did tell you and this is really why how I want to really wrap up this podcast, because I think it really, in essence, shows what is most important. You know, like I told you that I would wait to give you the number one thing, and this is not only the number one thing that it makes that is the most meaningful, but it's also one of the main things that people do, and I think that we cannot ever neglect to do this. The number one thing overwhelmingly the number one thing that's most important is praying together, and why I want to emphasize praying together is because it truly hits that both social and spiritual aspect. You are unifying, you're connecting together in relationship in time of prayer, you're fighting battles for one another, you're interceding for one another, you're going to the Lord for one another. You're being intimate together, being, uh, intimate together. You know, in your, in your, as you, as you pray and as you share.

Speaker 1:

But this is a spiritual practice. This is a practice that we, as believers, are called to do and to step into, and it's it's sanctifying for us as we, as we go to the Lord together and as we, as we cry out to him, we repent before him, we, we ask of him, and being able to do that in a space where it's it's freeing and open and people can listen to one another, and that there's this times of praying for that, laying hands on people and praying for people. Um, to me, this is the, this is the epitome of, of a group that's both fun and spiritual and spiritually deep, because when I'm praying for people, I'm just, I'm, I'm loving it, I'm engaging with it, I'm engaging with the Lord, I'm engaging with these people and so, remembering that, that time to be able to be praying together, do not neglect the time to pray together, do not put it at the end and if you have enough time, we'll pray together. Or or even having this opportunity just to like, hey, somebody close in prayer. I'm not saying that's bad, but there's so much more on the table. There's so much more opportunity there, you know, if you're praying together, to take that time where everybody's praying together, grab hands, lay hands on each other, put arms around each other, whatever it takes, but that's a powerful, powerful, powerful and unifying moment in a small group, and I cannot agree any more than what this study says. I think that that is the truth. I think praying together is one of the most valuable, most important parts of small group, and I do think opening God's word and studying it together is also important, but think praying together is one of the most valuable, most important parts of small group, and I do think opening God's word and studying it together is also important, but that praying together really captures each and every one of those things.

Speaker 1:

And so I want to say this a lot of words I, you know, I'm geeking out a little bit on this, these statistics, and this is one page of of tons of pages in this book, right? So I encourage you to go, go, get it right and go. There's digital downloads, but there's gonna be a hard copy soon, but digital downloads. You can buy it now, barna, it's all there, not a sponsor, just just a. I'm just a happy consumer of it. But it's a uh that you can kind of just geek out a little bit and understand these facts.

Speaker 1:

But here's, here's what I want to say, um, apart from that, your group is your group, and we've talked about this on the podcast multiple times. No group is the same Um. You are called to be a shepherd of your group and you're called to know your sheep, um, and as you know them, you can develop a, a, really a plan of discipleship, a, a, a direction that you want to take. The group that's going to be the most unifying for your group, the most edifying for your group, um, and those are things that you have to go to the Lord and you have to spend time in prayer and you're getting your prayer closet and be praying for just, uh, what, what the Lord would have you do to as you lead this group, or if you lead this ministry, uh, and then help guide people in that. And the Holy spirit is with you, the Holy spirit is empowering you, the Holy spirit wants to see you succeed. Um, he's your champion, he's your advocate, and so you can do it.

Speaker 1:

But a lot of different things that you can do in your small group to really make it meaningful, spiritually deep and lots of fun.

Speaker 1:

So so many benefits to small groups. I'm biased, but small groups best part of small, best part of church, small groups because you grow in the Lord, you develop in relationship and you really get a great sense of belonging. So that's what I got to say about that. I want to close today with a blessing for each and every one of you that are out there listening, and this is a blessing that comes from Philippians, chapter one, verses nine through 11. And it says this and if you're out there, hold out your hands or receive this, and this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. You guys are rocking it. You're doing a great job, god bless. Have a great rest of your week.